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7

Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy

Although cables are ideal for exchanging data between stationary devices that are close
together, there are significant disadvantages in a mobile environment. In practice,
Bluetooth connectivity has become an alternative to cables for many close‐range data‐
exchange applications and is often used alongside the cellular radio technologies that
were discussed in the previous chapters.
In the first part of this chapter, an introduction to the physical properties of Bluetooth
and the protocol stack is given. Afterward, relevant Bluetooth profiles and how they are
used in practice in a wide range of applications and scenarios are described. The final
part of this chapter then introduces Bluetooth Low Energy and its use for Internet of
Things (IoT) applications.

7.1 Overview and Applications

Owing to ongoing miniaturization and integration, more and more small electronic
devices are used in everyday life. Bluetooth enables these devices to wirelessly com-
municate with each other without a direct line‐of‐sight connection. Although in the last
decade there were a wide range of applications of Bluetooth, it can be observed today
that its use is now mostly focused on the following applications:
Wireless connectivity from smartphones and notebooks to remote audio devices,
●
such as headsets, hands‐free telephony equipment, Bluetooth‐enabled loudspeakers
and in‐car entertainment systems
Exchange of files between smartphones and notebooks (e.g. pictures taken with a
●
smartphone camera) and quick exchange of address book and calendar entries
Connecting wireless keyboards and other input devices to notebooks and smartphones.
●
Other applications, such as, for example, sharing of the Internet connection from a
smartphone to a notebook; calendar and address‐book synchronization; and multi‐player
games between devices, have migrated to other technologies such as Wi‐Fi tethering
and cloud‐based services.
As there are a great number of different Bluetooth devices available from different
vendors, reliable interoperability is of utmost importance for the success of Bluetooth
and is a challenge to achieve in practice. New devices must therefore be approved by a
Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF) [1].

From GSM to LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G: An Introduction to Mobile Networks and Mobile Broadband,
Third Edition. Martin Sauter.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.